According to Wikipedia: "Hatred/Hate is a deep and emotional extreme dislike; it is often associated with feelings of anger and a disposition towards hostility". I regularly read this paper and increasingly find that many of the letters written display anger and hostility representing hate for our president. After seeing portions of, and reading about, the recent "Value Voters Summit" I was left with the feeling that the only thing they seemed to value is their hate of anything related to the President of the United States and their anger and hostility about anything he says or does. The content of so many letters and of the speeches at the Value Summit are focused on tearing down the president or anyone who may write a positive thing about him or Obamacare. They offer no constructive thoughts or suggestions, just bullying and hate speak. I guess I should not be surprised as many writing the letters and speaking at the Summit are fueled by organizations such as the Tea Party, Americans for Prosperity, the Heritage Foundation and Freedom Works; all organizations that depend on the hate of others to spread their divisive messages.

Blinded by the emotion of hate renders individuals unable to care about the truth and accepting of any information that satisfies their anger and hostility. If you read the claims made in the letters of writers such as Mr. Ewing, Mr. Boutin and Mr. Earle, to name a few, you know many of their claims have already been discredited by credible, non-partisan sources such as the Kaiser Foundation, Pew Research and PolitiFact. If you listened to the speeches from the "Value Voters Summit" you heard the long ago discredited claims made against Pres. Obama and Obamacare continued to be repeated and applauded by the hate frenzied attendees.

Blinded by the emotion of hate allows individuals and groups to believe they can say and do anything and makes them willing to spend fortunes on it. Shortly after Pres. Obama started his second term, a coalition of conservative activists led by for former Atty. General Edwin Meese met and plotted a strategy that played out this month. Their "blueprint to defunding Obamacare" was a take-no-prisoners strategy asserting that Republicans could derail the health care overhaul if conservative lawmakers were willing to push their fellow GOP members into cutting off financing for the entire federal government. We saw this long hatched plan play out as the Tea Party/GOP shut down the Government. It cost the country over $24B and actually resulted in an improved view of Obamacare while leading the Republications, primarily the Tea Party, to a decline in their favorability ratings.

I appreciate that we all have the opportunity to express our views but am personally tired of the hate and bullying displayed in so many letters, Mr. Boutin's letter published on October 19 is a representation of this. He continues his routine rant against our president, Obamacare and the Dems while taunting Kate Miller to reply to him. His letter does not deserve reply, although those who love to fact check could have a field day with it.

Consider the benefit to our local and broader community if all the effort and emotion put into the hate and bullying was channeled for constructive purpose. Perhaps the World Series can at least take attention off the hate speak and give us all at least a short reprieve.